Kibako’s Omakase Box [Johnny Stephens]

IN the aftermath of Covid, a cycle down Charlotte Street was a grim experience – a blur of boarded-up restaurants gathering dust. Thankfully, this area of Fitzrovia has roared back to life and now offers a glorious and bewildering variety of places to eat out.

Lisboeata, for example, is a buzzy new restaurant from the creative Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes. There’s Sicilian opulence at Norma; elaborate cooking at Mere from MasterChef star Monica Galetti. To keep you on your toes, Carousel offers guest residencies to chefs from around the globe.

(Right now, it’s a cult chef from Mexico City reviving indigenous recipes; next a Japanese chef over from Paris).

At Kibako, a new opening round the corner in Windmill Street, the executive chef shares an intriguing back story. Chef Padam Raj Rai is Nepalese but trained as a sushi chef in Osaka a few decades ago.

He’s at the top of his game and worked at fancy places such as Nobu and Roka before launching the much-loved Hot Stone in Chapel Market in Islington.

The welcome from his team at Kibako may give you a jolt: the chefs in the open kitchen chant a loud greeting in Japanese to all that enter. You can take a seat at the bar to watch them at work. Admire their knife skills, the intricate latticed carpentry and the traditional paper lanterns dangling overhead.

We opted for the low-lit back room among moon-shaped screens whose design is lifted from temples in Japan.

Kibako has a decent wine list but stick with the sake, as there’s a large and eclectic selection by the glass.

Omakase boxes are a signature dish. Kibako translates as “wooden box” in Japanese: here it’s a tray partitioned into 12 slots, each containing morsels from their menu of sashimi and sushi.

Our selection included crispy rice with tuna tartare; salmon belly with a grating of truffle; a wakame seaweed roll; eel with a dusting of parmesan and tempura flakes.

The sauces are a revelation. I’m now obsessed by their yuzu miso dressing; we shared a carpaccio of raw scallop in a light and complex ponzu sauce, topped with three thin slices of Japanese plum and fronds of green shiso.

There are theatrical flourishes, too. The waiters grate fresh wasabi roots at the table – a rare sight in London – and carry trays laden with rare and aged soy sauces. But elsewhere the service was sometimes slow and underwhelming.

Food of this quality obviously does not come cheap. Kibako also offers three-course menus for £49 or £59, which include black cod, grilled salmon or aubergine with saikyo miso and truffle.

You could splash cash on larger dishes such as wagyu beef (£69) but I suggest you stick with the small plates, which start at £6.50 – and don’t turn up ravenously hungry.

Kibako
3 Windmill Street, W1T 2HY
www.kibakolondon.com
020 7419 0305
info@kibakolondon.com